


Lives in a Tank

by Fyeahvarric



Category: Mass Effect
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-09-30
Updated: 2012-09-30
Packaged: 2017-11-15 09:06:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 277
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/525600
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fyeahvarric/pseuds/Fyeahvarric
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A short ficlet involving Miranda, Shepard, and the simple comfort of maintaining a fish tank.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Lives in a Tank

**Author's Note:**

> There isn't much to this little story and it may get a lengthier and perhaps less mundane re-write in the future, but it is what it is for now.

“I don’t really understand why you have them. With everything you do, Shepard…I’m amazed you find the time to even care to feed them.”

Miranda spoke without looking at her commander, watching the flakes sink through the clear water, drawing Thessian Sunfish and spined Skald to swim upwards; scales vivid in color compared to the simple shades of the captain’s cabin.

They were beautiful creatures, of course, and she supposed she could understand the quiet enjoyment of merely watching them swim. Fish were likely low maintenance pets, easy to tend to, but also easy to forget about and quick to die.

“Fish don’t really live long…but it’s easy to keep them alive. Easier than it is to keep people alive anyway.”

Sierra Shepard stepped forward, fingers ghosting across the clear glass as if doing so would let her touch the aquatic life she looked after. Her true feelings were much easier for Miranda to discern in that moment, with those simple words, even when she could only see Shepard’s back rather than her face.

If a fish died, they were relatively easy to flush away. The death of a person such as Zaeed Massani was a much harder loss to carry and the burden of such a life lost was not one that could simply be forgotten. Loving a terminally ill Drell could not cure the condition slowly killing him.

Everyone had to find solace or comfort somehow.

If Shepard found some sort of peace in a fish tank and a few little fish then Miranda couldn’t fault her for it.

Perhaps she’d even buy her commander a few Striped Dartfish in the near future.


End file.
